Careless smoking causes house fire that kills 4 in Middletown, N.J.

Associated PressAn inspector with the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office looks through charred items inside of a home where an early morning fire killed four people today in Middletown, N.J.

MIDDLETOWN, N.J. -- Pacing frantically on the lawn in front of his burning home, Stephen Banovich sobbed and screamed for help as his wife, adult daughter and two others died in a fire early today.

"My wife! My daughter!" he cried, according to neighbors. "Somebody help us!"

The 3 a.m. fire was touched off by careless smoking, said Christopher Gramiccioni, first assistant Monmouth County prosecutor. The home where the blaze erupted is in Middletown, a suburb about an hour south of New York City.

"The cause was improper use or disposal of smoking or lighting material," he said.

Investigators shoveled scoops of charred debris from what had been a picture window in the front of the house. The home's robin-egg-blue siding had all but melted away in the blaze.

Stephen Banovich was wearing a bathrobe, wailing in agony as it became clear that rescuers would be unable to enter the raging inferno. Police officers, who were the first at the scene, tried to get in through windows but were repelled by flames.

"He was distraught, standing there with his hands on his face," said neighbor Kristen Dressler, who lives across the street. "There was nothing anyone could do."

Ted Magee and his wife, who also live across the street, heard the screams of the man, who was the only one to escape the house.

"He was yelling, 'Oh, my God, help me!'" Magee said. "The whole front of the house was in flames, just engulfed. Smoke was pouring out. He was saying, 'My wife, my daughter and my sister-in-law are in there!' Everything was crackling and snapping. He was just bawling; he didn't know what to do."

Banovich was taken to a hospital but wasn't believed to have been seriously injured. There were no reports of firefighters being injured in the blaze.

The fire was extinguished within an hour, Gramiccioni said.

Carlos Olivero, who lives down the block, said he knew the family years ago when their children attended school together.

"They were very nice people, a very good family," he said. "This is so sad."